Our glorious leader (from the Times of London …)
Few neoconservatives can claim to have had as much influence on the course of the Iraq war as the trio of scholars in the Kagan family, writes Sarah Baxter.
Frederick Kagan, 36, is the author of Choosing Victory, a blueprint for the surge adopted by President George W Bush. Just as everybody had begun writing off the influence of the neocons at the White House, genial, chubby-faced Frederick gave the muscular intellectuals a lease of life.
It was at Camp David last June that Kagan, a military historian and fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, outlined his plans for pouring more troops into Iraq to Bush and his war cabinet.
Donald Rumsfeld, the then defence secretary, was unimpressed, but Kaganâs views got another hearing when Bush was searching for ways to ditch the seemingly defeatist recommendations of James Bakerâs Iraq Study Group. âWow, you mean we can still win this war?â a grateful Bush reportedly said.
The best and the brightest …
(ed.note: Thanks to TPM Reader DF for the tip.)
